"Why ithn't it getting better?" Spike demanded, his arms crossed as he glowered at those present with him in the lab.
Adam, Bree, and Leo all looked at each other, Adam and Leo tenderly rubbing their bruises uncomfortably. Bree had been the only one of the teens to escape Spike's wrath the day before; her speed, the fact that she had had no active part in the scheming, and the fact that she had likely saved Spike's life had spared her the punishment the other two had received.
Mr. Davenport pulled his head out of the cupboard he had been rummaging through, a small vile in his hand. "The stunning serum in the flies will temporarily knock out and stun a regular person, and it will temporarily immobilize a bionic, I guess. But why it's still bothering you is beyond me," he said with a shrug. "What all is wrong?"
"I feel thlower, like I have leth control of my muthlth, and I have a freaking lithp!" Spike spat. "I can't thay my etheth anymore!"
The other four all stifled snorts of amusement, growing serious again when Spike growled at them angrily.
"I'm going to run a few tests on you to see what is going on, okay?" Mr. Davenport said in an effort to soothe the enraged commando app. "You're symptoms might grow a little worse as we do this, but if it works, you won't have to experience them again. Kapeesh?"
Spike's eyes narrowed, and he gave the mogul a curt nod. At Mr. Davenport's direction, the youngest bionic went into his capsule, the billionaire following with a syringe containing a miniscule amount of the artificial venom in hand.
As he watched the needle grow closer to him, Spike had to fight every instinct that told him to swat it away and protect himself. He didn't like the thought of being poked and punctured by a small metal rod, but he knew that this was for the best. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he forced himself to relax, trying not to flinch as the needle went into his skin.
Immediately he fell slack against the wall of the capsule, sliding to the floor of it. Mr. Davenport pushed the app's feet back into the capsule before shutting the door, walking back over to the cyber-desk and typing a flurry of commands.
The middle capsule glowed for a minute or two before the scan was complete, and the tech mogul pulled up the results. Adam, Bree, and Leo all came over to see, peering over and around the billionaire's shoulders.
Mr. Davenport's eyebrows rose with surprise, and he said "Spike, it looks like you're allergic to one of the chemicals in this stuff. That means that your symptoms are exasperated and will take longer to recede."
"In French, please," Adam requested of Mr. Davenport.
"What?" the billionaire asked.
"Adam, you don't know French," Bree drawled.
"Isn't that what we're speaking?" Adam asked.
"No, genius, this is English," Bree replied, rolling her eyes.
Adam turned back to Mr. Davenport. "Well, then say it in English."
"I did," Mr. Davenport sighed with a complete lack of amusement.
"Spike no feel good because fly is bad for him," Leo explained to the oldest bionic in exaggerated cave-man speech, just as Chase often had. Adam nodded in comprehension, and Leo shared a look of annoyance with Bree.
"Idth nothin theahiouth, ith id?" Spike tried to ask, but his words were too slurred to be understood. I hope this isn't like a peanut allergy where I could die, he thought to himself. That would make me want to strangle myself, if the venom didn't do it first.
"Sorry Spike, try asking when you can talk again," Mr. Davenport suggested to the app with a shrug. Turning back to the others, he said "As for you three, no more playing with those spy flies, especially when Spike is around." He subtly jerked his head towards the elevator, and getting the cue, Bree and Leo followed him, dragging a confused Adam along with them.
"Hey, wheah oo ohin?" they heard Spike ask desperately, but the closing elevators didn't give them the chance to respond.
Mr. Davenport turned to face the rest of his kids. "You three need to be a lot more careful if you use the flies to keep tabs on Spike – I'm tempted not to let you use them at all."
"We'll be a lot more careful, Big D. We promise," Leo said, glancing at Adam and Bree.
"You'd better," Bree grumbled. "And don't look at me – I want to have nothing to do with this."
"Well, I'm not promising," Adam said, a smirk sliding onto his features. "Teasing Spike with that fly was fun!"
"Adam!" Mr. Davenport said sharply with a glare for the oldest. "You know what? No spy flies, period."
"No, Mr. Davenport!" Adam cried out, falling serious.
Mr. Davenport tried to give the oldest bionic a hard look, but he couldn't help pitying the pathetic expression on Adam's face. He let out a sigh of defeat, looking away as he tried to resolve the problem. If the fly would just fly on its own without the boys tampering with the controls…. The billionaire's eyes brightened.
"Yes, I'm smart!" Mr. Davenport celebrated, and he received mixed looks of annoyance and curiosity. "I just need to program an autopilot feature that will track him from a safe distance so that none of you numbskulls can screw up again. And I will program it, whenever it detects violence, to send me the live video feed!" he explained excitedly as the elevator doors opened.
"Good for you!" Leo said, patting the man's shoulder. "That means that you can look after him!" With that, he, Adam, and Bree all stepped out of the elevator just as the doors began closing, leaving the billionaire alone in the elevator.
"Wait! What? I never said-" Mr. Davenport was cut off by the doors hissing shut, and the teens were left alone on the main level.
"Well, that takes care of that," Leo said matter-of-factly.
Meanwhile, Mr. Davenport was sighing in annoyance, hurriedly pressing the button numerous times to reopen the elevator doors to no avail. He hadn't intended to stay in the elevator; he needed to remain on the main level to delegate the job of watching Spike to one of the kids.
When the elevator doors finally opened, the mogul found himself in the lab again. He had a mind of staying in the elevator and just riding it back up to where he needed to be, but seeing the commando app lying helplessly in his capsule changed the billionaire's mind.
"Feeling any better, Spike?" Mr. Davenport asked as he strode into the main room.
A thick "No!" was the reply he got from the app.
Mr. Davenport just stood there for a moment, trying not to laugh. The app was crumpled in a limp, crunched heap, pressed against the sides of the glass around him. The mogul knew that Spike knew how ridiculous he looked because the app's burning fury was tangible all the way across the room.
"Don't worry, I'll try to come up with something to help reduce the effects the venom has on you," Mr. Davenport finally said into the silence "but right now, I have some other more pressing things to attend to. You should be able to move again in… say… ten to fifteen minutes. Have fun until then!" He felt a little bad about leaving him again, but he needed to sort out the spy-fly-arrangement with the other teens. With a shrug to himself, he began exiting the lab.
"Ed bah heuh!" Spike tried to roar, but at this point it was just pathetic.
"Bye Spike!" the mogul called, the elevator doors closing him off from the enraged teen a second time that day. A thought struck him, and he shifted uncomfortably. He hoped that this didn't place him too high on Spike's personal hit list.
[9] An assumption for the sake of the story; Chase/Spike may not be allergic to the fly venom in the canon plot.